T-Row and Joe: Moving OU-Texas is 'Not Something We're Talking About'
Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said Friday morning that moving the OU-Texas rivalry to a temporary home-and-home series is not currently being discussed between himself and Texas AD Chris Del Conte.
“I’m not gonna sound smart alecky and say it hasn’t come up,” Castiglione said, “but it’s not something we’re talking about at this point in time.”
Castiglione made the comments to OU play-by-play voice and talk show host Toby Rowland during their regularly scheduled segment on SportsTalk 1400 The Ref in Norman.
LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW
Castiglione said the location of the game, even as an emergency measure during the Coronavirus pandemic, adds an additional layer of uncertainty that just goes too deep right now.
“We’re still not sure how we’re gonna answer the questions about fans and whether this is a singular-year issue, so whoever hosts the game the first year may feel like it’s a disadvantage the second year if we’re back to being able to fill our stadium again.
“Right now, Chris Del Conte and I are talking it through. We’re still hopeful to have the game, still hoping to play it, and trying to accommodate as many people as we can. But it’s still scheduled for the Cotton Bowl.
“We have a contract to play the game in the Cotton Bowl, and so at this point, that’s what we plan to do.”
Castiglione acknowledged everyone’s desire to know when these kinds of things will be decided. But he still hesitates when asked about a deadline.
“I don’t have a timetable,” he said. “But it’s getting closer. I always hate to pinpoint a day. But we’re getting much closer because it doest take time to work through whatever process we’re going to use to assign the seats.
“If we’re not at capacity, are we at 50 percent? Are we at a different social distancing model, which might be 22 percent? And how do we go about assigning tickets to those who want to come?
“Sometimes when we’re being transparent, we have to say we don’t know if we don’t know.”
Castiglione also addressed recent reports about other autonomy conferences trying to push through a 9+1 model of conference games and one non-conference crossover game to preserve certain out-of-conference rivalries.
He said it was being discussed by Big 12 ADs, who meet regularly via videoconferencing.
“It’s just one of many models,” Castiglione said. “It’s something that has actually come up as we’ve developed our approach to a shortened season — and I say ‘we,’ we being nationally. It’s a good example of how we’re sharing information across conferences.
“Part of that probably came up because many of the other schools play crossover games every year, and some against other conferences. The SEC and ACC have outstanding rivalries, some of them intrastate. Clemson-South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Florida-Florida State. And they play eight conference games, not 9 like the Big 12 or Big Ten or Pac-12. So there’s differences. But it’s just one of many models that have come up.”
When reminded that the Sept. 5 season opener against Missouri State — he’s appealed to the NCAA to push that game to Aug. 29, and said “we’ve been in touch” with the NCAA this week and “there’s a little” feedback — Castiglione did say “we’re getting closer to making that decision.”
He also reminded listeners that playing or not playing might not necessarily be up to him.
“I believe that decision would be made within our state, not by us alone,” he said, but “in consultation with our governor, our state health officials, our local officials, president (Joe) Harroz, the Board (of Regents) — it’ll be a collective decision, whatever that is, based on the best information we have, the science that we have. What is the best approach? And that’s what we also partly what we may learn from other sporting events that occur here in the next few weeks.”
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